All posts by bakern

Music

AI Music ?

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I just noticed that (LUX) has returned to Bandcamp. Several weeks ago, all the albums just disappeared. But they were still on Tidal.

On January 13, 2026, Bandcamp announced that any music or audio created “wholly or in substantial part by AI” is prohibited on its platform, marking the first major music distribution service to implement such a policy. The ban also extends to AI deepfakes or tools used to mimic other artists’ voices or styles, aligning with existing rules against impersonation and intellectual property infringement.

I can only conclude that the artist was accused of using AI, but persuaded Bandcamp they didn’t.

HOWEVER

AST REC, had these albums (and others) disappear from Bandcamp:

Nostalgic EXpanse – Edges of Electronic Music 3
Nostalgic EXpanse – Edges of Electronic Music 4
Crystal Labyrinth – Labyrinth of Light

But now they are back, with four new albums from Jan 20 2026.
and all the back-catalogue gone. I can only conclude that the earlier
material was marked as AI and removed.

Games

3 Minutes

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3 Minutes to Midnight

Somewhere in 1940’s America an explosion shatters the night. Everyone wakes up with a jolt. Where are they? Who are they? It turns out that whatever blew up in the desert seems to have done more than just wipe their memories clean.

You can see where this game gets its inspiration, Lucas Arts, Monkey Island, Sierra (all those 1990’s classic adventures). And for a large part it succeeds. Main protagonist Berry is snarky, witty and a danger to all around her. You get to control her through most of the game. About 50-60 percent of the puzzles are logical and solvable.

But then, near the end things get worse. One puzzle kept me halted for days. They designed the game to have multiple solutions, but some are very obscure without a walkthrough. Then there is a long fight sequence that I followed according to the walkthrough but kept failing, without explanation

In the end, I could not complete the game. Most frustrating.

Television

Propaganda

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This American PBS documentary covers propaganda from ancient times to Trumpian times. It’s a bit all over the map and lacks a coherent narrative. But it does cover interesting incidents. From the Che Guevera image:

To Kathy Griffin:

Movies

Knife 3

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Wake Up Dead Man is the third film in the Knives Out series. Written and directed by Rian Johnson. Daniel Craig is back as Detective Benoit Blanc.

Blanc investigates the death of a divisive Catholic priest against the backdrop of a missing inheritance.

Glenn Close stars and gets to ACT. Josh Brolin is the Big Bad Priest, a smaller version of Thanos. Mila Kunis is the Police Chief and Jeremy Renner the Doctor.

This really is a cracking good movie, mainly due to the finely tuned script that has everything a murder mystery should have.

With a 92% critics score, 94% audience score and a dozen award nominations others would agree.

Movies

Citadel

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Citadel is an American spy action television series created by Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh, and David Weil.

It stars Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra as secret agents Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh who, after being attacked by members of a rival agency and having their memories wiped, must reclaim their lost identities and fight back.

With a production budget of US$300 million, the six-episode first season ranks as one of the most expensive television series ever made.

The big budget can be seen on screen. From the travelouge scenery, the big set piece action sequences and CGI filling the screen. It’s just a pity some of that money wasn’t spent on the script.

It starts OK, with action on a train and the consequences of it crashing. Then we get Stanley Tucci explaining the plot, providing backstory and trying to be snarky but loveable.

The problems start in the fourth episode with a flashback. Then again in the fifth episode. All this ruins the momentum of the story and is not needed. Plus, all the fight scenes are just too long to be believable.
In comparison to…

I only got half-way through this.

Games

Diablo 3

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Diablo III is a 2012 action role-playing game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the Diablo franchise.

Set 20 years after the events of Diablo II, players control one of seven character classes – Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor, or Wizard – and are tasked with defeating Diablo.

Starting with the main quest is not advised, but I did it anyway with a Wizard. Played in ‘normal’ I got through to the end with only a few re-tries on the Boss battles. Near the end it was necessary to switch to adventure mode to reach Level 70, the maximum.

This really is a fun game to play. The isometric perspective is fixed, so there is no messing around with swivelling the landscape. The structures and obstacles just melt away to enable vision on the characters.

However, after finished the main game and getting into adventure mode each quest gets to be very similar. And I’m sure I repeated a few.

But still work the price.